Two summer interns reviewed their experiences and insights while serving with the Fillmore County Attorney’s Office at the county board’s August 4 meeting. Commissioner Larry Hindt was absent. Commissioner Mitch Lentz participated via Zoom.
Coy Pederson, a first-year law student, and Aalyiah Root, an undergraduate student, participated in the 2026 summer internship program.
Pederson explained how he learned to apply rules he learned in law school to real life practice, saying, “We learned to work as a team, to deal with real life problems, and to deal with the unpredictable.”
Doing research of case law is foundational to being an attorney. Root described how a case begins with the filing of a complaint and a summons. They learned about both civil and criminal law.
Attorney Brett Corson said they were really helpful. He thanked the board for letting them have this experience. Commissioners Lentz and Bakke said they want to continue this program.
Other Business in Brief
• The 2027 budgeting process continued with proposed budgets presented by Terry Schultz for Maintenance and Infrastructure, by Cristal Adkins for the Land Use Department, by Dallas Dornink for Feed Lot Department, and by Joel Kroening, Solid Waste.
Schultz reported that next year’s big infrastructure project will be tuckpointing of the courthouse. Adkins noted the significant increase in gross salaries over 2026 includes one additional employee. Kroening reported there are more haulers coming to the Recovery Center. Options which have been provided for possible building plans for a new building are being looked at by the Solid Waste Committee.
County Administrator Bobbie Hillery said she will present the overall percent increase for the 2027 budget derived from all of the budget proposals at the next meeting. Hillery said, “We always can come down, better to start higher rather than too low.”
• Approval was given to hire a replacement social worker. This social worker will replace a social worker whose resignation was effective on July 9. This led to a discussion over the letter read at the Citizens Input portion of the July 28 meeting by an adult protection services social worker. Chairman Randy Dahl said the letter was inappropriate and unprofessional. Bakke said we need to send a message that personnel issues don’t come before the board but need to go through proper channels. Bakke and Hillery acknowledged that over the last six months there has been a big uptick in adult mental health requests.
A request to interview and hire qualified candidates from a prior interview list was approved. Human Resources Officer Lindsi Engle said they will look at that list first and if they need to, post the position publicly.
• Two temporary hires were approved at the last meeting. They will help with both the primary and general elections. Today approval was granted for “not to exceed” $7,200 to pay for the election helpers. The cost will be paid out of VOTER funding.
• A new Revenue Recognition policy was approved presented by Finance Director Christy Smith.
Approval was granted to reinvest a matured CD in the amount of $1 million at the highest rate offered by MAGIC at 4.21% for one year. Commissioner Marc Prestby voted no; he wants the money to be invested locally in Fillmore County.
Smith recommended a portion of the funds that are currently in checking accounts could be invested for up to five years with Moreton Capital Markets to get a better interest rate. She said the county will still have lots of liquid money available in checking accounts. A motion was approved to allow the finance director to invest $1 million in Moreton Capital Markets for up to five years.
• Highway Engineer Josh Lensing informed the board that there were seven bidders for the project in the city of Mabel. Mabel awarded the project to Generation X Construction. The county pays roughly a third of the total cost of the project.
• Approval was granted to allocate MCIT dividends in the total amount of $37,529 to Infrastructure with an allowance for two Safety members to attend annual safety training.
• Approval was given to use Opioid dollars to refurbish and transfer used Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to local cities that want them at no cost to the city. An agreement will need to be signed by the receiver of the AEDs transferring all ownership, responsibility and liability to the city.
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